Purify Your Bride

One thing that come back to mind over this whole Roman Polanski controversy is how unworkable the current sexual mores of our society are. We have the idea of consent. Then we have an exception for age. If someone is under-aged then consent does not matter. But age really isn’t the issue. It is maturity. [...]

I wanted to write a post congratulating Fr Reese for pointing out the double standard being applied to Catholic priests on the one hand and Roman Polanski on the other. I didn’t think I would need to do that. I was sure many orthodox Catholic bloggers would beat me to it. Somehow it has not [...]

Steve Kellmeyer wrote a post attacking Chris West. He is normally a good guy. I am not sure how he got such a negative view of Chris West. He does make some valid points but his overall assessment seems unfair. Here is the passage from West that he quotes:
“St. Paul is so clear on this: [...]

It seems like boredom is responsible for many of the changes in direction we have on on spiritual journey. They can be good changes or bad changes. People can get bored in a shallow, sinful life and they can go looking for something deeper and more fulfilling. St Augustine’s was experiencing that kind of boredom [...]

Religion is the opiate of the masses. I can’t remember who said that. Maybe Freud or Marx. But it rings true for many people. Religion is just a convenient way of keeping people from thinking too much. If their reality is too painful or perhaps their ideas might be anti-social then religion serves a useful [...]

Grubb is a protestant who regularly comments on Dave Armstrong’s blog. There is one post Dave wrote on the Beatles that has gotten out of control. Grubb and I were going onto a tangent so I thought I would reply here to this. My original words will be in bold. Grubb’s in green and my [...]

Atheists think Christianity is a lie. But who told the lie? When did that happen? How many people were involved? How much evidence do they have to support this? There are a number of problems. One is how quickly the gospel travelled far and wide. When you have first century technology and you have faith [...]

Pope Benedict picked up some of the same ideas I was talking about with people fighting for their ideology. It surprised me because he was reflecting on the second reading from Sunday and I had missed the connection when I heard it.
13Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good [...]

Saw a post on Real Clear Politics that critiqued an article that suggested we could end violence by simply learning how to resolve disputes peacefully.
Abolishing violence will be more difficult than ending slavery because violence is such an institutional and widespread problem. Violence is how this country was settled, how it spread from coast to [...]

Mark Shea has a post about Glen Beck. I don’t follow what Beck says but some good parallels between politics and religion. The idea that you have different political traditions like you have different religious traditions. Republicans are like Presbyterians and Democrats are like Anglicans. They both have ideas they hold onto strongly. They [...]

What defines Catholic and protestant spirituality? One difference I can think of is the central events they focus on. Catholics focus on the events of the incarnation, the crucifixion, and the resurrection. What you need to do is understand these events and supernaturally unite yourself to these events and make mini versions of these events [...]

He responded to reply to his my post on Mat 23. It is quite long so I won’t quote it all here but I shall offer a few comments.
Well, I quoted from John Nolland who, in addition to his own comments, quoted from Mark Allan Powell. Nolland is Anglican, so I don’t think the assumptions [...]

Intentional Disciples has a post on a Christianity Today piece on iGens. I understand iGens to be 18-30 year old people. Their parents might be baby boomers. They have been raised with a huge emphasis on self esteem. Everything in the culture has been focused on affirming them as children. They totally have down that [...]

The last line of defense to the universal shepherd idea is to say that God would not make a universal shepherd a matter of faith. That if God required all Christians to follow one leader He would make it so obvious to every believer that nobody could deny it. But God does not make His [...]

Would it be a good thing for the church to have a universal shepherd? That is an interesting question for a protestant. Obviously he rejects the papacy or he would not be protestant. But why? Is the problem with the papacy or is the problem with having the world-wide church united under one leader? Is [...]